ADRIAN — City commissioners gave no indications on Nov. 4 as to how they are likely to proceed now that a movement to repeal the city’s point-of-sale inspection ordinance has submitted enough signatures to force a public vote.

The ordinance requires exterior inspections of residential properties in the city before they can be sold. It also requires sellers to either make any needed repairs or put money into an escrow account so that the buyer can take care of any problems. It was passed in June by a 4-3 vote, after which a group of residents launched a petition drive to get it repealed.

The petitioners submitted 2,273 valid signatures. They had to submit at least 1,494 — which is 10% of the number of registered voters in the city as of the last municipal election — to force a vote on repeal.

The 2,273 signatures that opponents submitted is roughly equal to the total number of people who voted in the 2023 city election.

City commissioners actually have two options: They can put the ordinance up for a citywide vote, or they can repeal it themselves.

Several speakers at Monday night’s meeting urged them to choose the second option.

“It should be a wakeup call that in our city’s history we have never had an ordinance repeal effort like this,” said Carrie Smith, one of the organizers of the petition drive. “The people of Adrian are speaking loud and clear, asking you to represent their interests.”

“Putting this issue to a future vote would only delay what is abundantly clear,” she added. “Our community wants to repeal the point-of-sale ordinance. The support for this petition has been overwhelming, and it’s not often you see such widespread agreement across the community.”

Other speakers talked about the level of support they saw while out canvassing for signatures.

If commissioners choose to go the citywide referendum route, they can either place the question on the ballot for the next regularly scheduled city election — which will be in August 2025 if there are enough candidates for office to require a primary, and in November 2025 if there are not — or they can call a special election. Commissioner Mary Roberts said the cost of a special election is about $25,000.

City administrator Greg Elliott said he will prepare two resolutions, one repealing the ordinance and one placing it on the ballot, for the commission to consider at its next meeting.

Elliott noted that the commission has not yet established a fee structure for the point-of-sale inspections. If commissioners repeal the ordinance, of course, that will be unnecessary. If they opt to put it before voters, he said it would be reasonable to consider waiving fees until the matter is settled.

The next city commission meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, at 159 E. Maumee St.